Newsdesk live - Wednesday 7 March

Each day on the Newsdesk live blog, the Guardian's national news team will bring you the news as we break it, explain how we choose what we report and why – and ask you to get involved. Send us your ideas, evidence and experiences to help shape our coverage. Get in touch below the line or tweet
@robertsdan

Andrew Culf, national live news editor, writes: one story has been dominating the domestic news agenda since 9am today, when the Ministry of Defence announced that six British soldiers were missing, presumed dead, after an explosion in Helmand province, Afghanistan.It is a shocking loss of life in a single incident – but the news is likely to have even deeper resonance. The deaths, if confirmed, will push the total number of British service personnel killed in the Afghanistan since 2001 past the grim milestone of 400. That will intensify the debate over the pace at which troops are likely to be withdrawn from the country. Richard Norton-Taylor, our security expert, tells us that sadly the deaths are expected to be confirmed, and is now working on a piece of analysis looking at how it will affect the pace of withdrawal. Also on the site is an interactive, which tells the story of the loss of personnel, and pieces by Nick Hopkins looking at the human cost of the conflict and Jon Boone looking at how improvised explosive devices have accounted for 70% of Nato's casualties in the conflict. We will keep the main news story updated, follow the tributes likely to be paid at prime minister's questions, and Steve Morris, our west country reporter, is heading for Warminster, headquarters of the third battallion, the Yorkshire regiment, to seek more reaction.